Sociology Chapter 9 Race

Plessy vs Ferguson case

-1896 Supreme Court ruling upheld the 'separate but equal' doctrine -this court ruling stated that separate facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they were equal (in reality, this court ruling legalized UNequal facilities for blacks)

Brown vs Board of Education case

-1954 Supreme Court ruling that rules segregated schools were 'inherently unequal' -struck down the 'separate but equal' doctrine

4 Forms of Minority-Majority Group Relations

1. Assimilation- the blending or fusing of minority groups into the dominant society 2. Pluralism -coexistence of numerous distinct groups in one society 3. Segregation -the legal or social practice of separating people on the basis of their race or ethnicity 4. Conflict - when antagonistic groups wtihin a society live integrated int he same neighborhoods, hold the same jobs, and go to the same schools; typically results in diastrous results

Milton Gordon's 7 Stages of Assimilation

1. Cultural 2. Structural 3. Marital 4. Identificational 5. Attitude Receptional 6. Behavior Receptional 7. Civic Assimilation

3 Key Beliefs of Racist Thinking

1. That humans are divided into distinct bloodlines and/or physical types 2. That these bloodlines or physical traits are linked to distinct cultures, behaviors, personalities, and intellectual abilities 3. That certain groups are superior to others

What are some group responses to domination?

1. withdrawal - an oppressed group may leave 2. passing - oppressed group members may 'pass' or blend in with the dominant group by making physical changes to their appearance or changing their names to names similar to the dominant group 3. acceptance - oppressed group feigns compliance and hides true feelings of resentment 4. collective resistance - an organized effort to change a power hierarchy on the part of a less-powerful group in a society

Scientific Racism

19th centur theories of race that characterize a period of feverish investigation into the origins, explanations, and classifications of race

Asian immigrants

1st wave- unskilled laborers 2nd- well-educated and highly skilled

Primordialism

Clifford Geertz's term to explain the persistence of ethnic ties because they are fixed in deeply felt or primordial ties to one's homeland culture

Difference between Race vs Ethnicity?

Race: externally imposed - someone else defines you as black, white, or other involuntary - it's not up to you to decidew hich category you belong, someone else puts you there usually based on physical difference - skin tone, hair, facial features, etc hierarchal - races are stratified or ordered (in the US white is at the top of the hierarchy) exclusive - you are only one race unequal - there's a power dimension Ethnicity: voluntary - you decide what you identify with self-defined - embraced by group members nonhierarchal - no order fluid and multiple - you can have multiple ethnicities cultural - based on differences in practices such as language, food, music, etc (not biological or physical differences) planar - not about unequal power

Straight-Line Assimilation

Robert Park's 1920 universal and linear model for how immigrants assimilate: first they arrive, then settle in, and achieve full assimilation in a newly homogenous country - 4 Stages of Race Relations Cycle 1. Contact 2. Competition 3. Accomodation 4. Assimilation

Race

a group of people who share a set of characteristics - typically, but not always, physical ones - and are said to share a common bloodline

Symbolic Inequality

a nationality, not in the sense of carrying the rights and duties of citizenship but identifying with a past or future nationality.

Example of Racialization

all arabs are muslim after 9/11

Latino Population

diverse, though one common trait is that most Latino immigrants have come to the US voluntarily in search of economic opportunity

Discrimination

harmful or negative acts (not merely thoughts) against people deemed inferior on the basis of their racial category without regard to their individual merit

Eugenics

literally meaning "well born" the theory of controlling the fertility of populations to influence inheritable traits passed on from generation to generation

Black Population

marked by high rates of poverty, crime, unemployment, incarceration, and health problems

Nativism

movement to protect and preserve indigenous land or culture from the so-called dangerous and polluting effects of new immigrants

Ethnicity

one's ethnic quality or affiliation. It is voluntary, self-defined, nonhierarchal, fluid and multiple, and based on cultural differences not physical ones.

Difference between Prejudice and Discrimination?

prejudice refers to THOUGHTS/FEELINGS towards an ethnic or racial group whereas discrimination refers to ACTS against an ethnic or racial group

The Myth of Race

race is a social construction, a set of stories that we tell ourselves to organize reality and make sense of the world, RATHER THAN a fixed biological or natural reality

Social Darwinism

the application of Darwinian ideas to society, namely, the evolutionary "survival of the fittest"

One-Drop Rule

the belief that 'one drop' of black blood makes a person black, a concept that evolved from US laws forbidding miscegenation

Racism

the belief that members of separate races possess different and unequal traits

Ethnocentrism

the belief that one's own culture or group is superior to others and the tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one's own or the judgment of other groups by one's own standards and values

Racialization

the formation of a new racial identity, in which new ideological boundaries of difference are drawn around a formerly unnoticed group of people

Segregation

the legal or social practice of separating people on the basis of their race or ethnicity

Genocide

the mass killing of a group of people

Ontological Equality

the notion that everyone is created equal in the eyes of God

Pluralism

the presence and engaged coexistence of numerous distinct groups in one society

Miscegenation

the technical term for multiracial marriage; literally meaning 'a mixing of kinds;' it is politically and historically charged - sociologists generally prefer exogamy or outmarriage

Prejudice

thoughts and feelings about an ethnic or racial group

White Privilege

unseen benefits of being white such as not having to think about race